Friday 7 July 2006

I really meant to move on. But the third piece of bad news has rocked us most of all, the death of a friend in a car accident. not a personal friend, in that we've never visited each other's houses, but we have known and liked each other for years; he was a well known and much respected and liked local businessman and he will be missed so much. I'm not superstitious, but I really hope that bad news comes in threes, because that means that's the last of it.

Uneventful day, for me. Squiffany was sweet, except that she bit my nose when I was expecting a kiss. She went to sleep in the afternoon, half an hour in her cot, then she woke up and cried (because she does not like the travel cot, but I prefer to have her downstairs where I can keep an eye on her) and I picked her up and she slept for another hour and a half on me. I dozed off myself.

Friday evening market at Lovely Next Village. Many friends there, including people I don't really know, but who are very friendly. Actually, I have a slight quandary which I would appreciate any views on - my son is thinking, at some time in the future, of raising a pig or two for meat. Now, I'm not a vegetarian and, being a professed animal lover, I accept that some may find that hypocritical. But I'm interested in ethically raised animals, humanely killed, and I have to accept that my choice to eat meat means that I'm responsible for animals being raised for the purpose. If I became vegetarian, I'd not touch dairy products either as I think that dairy herds are unnaturally and arguably cruelly treated. Hens can be raised ethically (there are compromises, but not ones the hens are aware of) so real free-range eggs are okay.

Now, we were talking about that this evening. One friend, who is vegetarian herself but her husband and sons aren't, once raised a pig - they called her 'Louisa for the Freezer' and, she says, the point is that you have to accept this from the start as you cannot kill and eat a pet. Several others agreed. But I remember a friend who kept a few sheep. There was one, Longlegs - yes, she was tall - who had a personality rare in sheep. She was different. The others were nice enough, and some of them had distinctive natures; but Longlegs was one on her own. My friend took a full-time job in the end and couldn't keep up her small hobby-flock. But she had to have a few sheep, so that Longlegs would not be lonely, as she had to stay in the family until the end of her days.
What if we had a pig like that?
But 'happy pig' until the time comes, I can respect that too. It's not my choice, it's Al's and Dilly's. Can I deal with it?

5 comments:

Z said...

That's what I'm afraid of.
Indeed yes, hope 1 & 2 turn out fine
tried goat, very tasty, like somewhat tough lamb.

Z said...

Look, I draw the line at guinea pigs. Or donkeys. is humperdink's revenge anything like Delhi belly?

Z said...

Puppy would be good :-) (not to eat, natch)

stitchwort said...

What is the ESSENTIAL difference between eating a dog/guinea pig and eating a cow/pig? Between a rabbit and a cat? (And it's difficult to tell those 2 apart if they're skinned and headless!)
If you can eat one living creature that is VERY, VERY like yourself and your children, why not eat the others? Just because they can't talk the same way you can? Because your priest tells you they don't have "souls"?
And yes, vegetables are alive too, so you are still killing to eat. Life is sometimes a compromise. Just so long as you are prepared to take the consequences of your actions.
Trouble is, once you start thinking about things like this, life gets different.
z - just delete this if you think it's too much of a rant.

Z said...

I don't think that, even if I disagreed with you, I would think it a rant, but in fact I agree with all you say. There is no logic at all to finding the thought of eating a dove appalling and a pigeon acceptable, or to enjoy eating snails but not to contemplate chewing a slug, but we are awfully illogical. I find people who eat only white meat reasonable if it's on grounds of lowering cholesterol, but on dodgier ground if they think that eating a cute lamb is cruel, as the odds are that a chicken has been treated with less respect and had a more miserable life than the average outdoor-reared lamb.
As you imply, if I started down that route I could go an absurdly long way. Even eating only fruit only has a point if one sows all the seeds to give them a chance of life, which would be ridiculous. I'm a bit obsessive in some respects already; when washing vegetables I save all the earwigs etc - aphids get washed down the sink but even slugs just get chucked on the compost heap.
I haven't heard anyone debate whether an animal has a soul since primary school and don't know a priest who would draw any conclusions regarding the matter. The church hierarchy in various countries, and religious fundamentalists of what ever religion, make all us 'believers' seem like freaks, but we look and behave quite normally really. However misguided and needy we are.